Pair charged in Athol copper theft; $250,000 in damage estimated

DNA evidence and footprints may have tripped up two men charged with stripping wire out of a factory building, causing $250,000 in damage.

Dennis Bouthillier, 31, of 63 Ridge ave., and Randy Valliere, 27, of Broadway Street in the Lake Pleasant village of Montague, are accused of breaking into a factory building and stripping it of thousands of feet of copper wiring, for which they were paid $18,000 by a Greenfield recycling company.

The building is part of the L.P. Athol Corp. complex off Main Street and Chestnut Hill Avenue. It is used currently as a business incubator.

Police said the owner estimates it would cost $250,000 to rewire the building and repair damage caused during the theft.

Police said the thefts occurred sometime in August or late July 2010. They said the men may have stolen the wire and trucked it away over several nights.

They were caught when Athol Police Officer Peter Buck discovered Mr. Valliere in his car near the factory on Aug. 12, 2010, police said. Officer Buck was patrolling the area because of reports of vandalism.

When Officer Buck pulled up, another man standing next to the car ran off. Near the vehicle police found a tool box and a large amount of industrial sized copper wire held together with duct tape, police said.

Police said that later that day they found the damage inside the factory building. During the investigation, police said, they determined that Mr. Bouthillier was the person who ran off.

Mr. Valliere's vehicle was seized by Officer Buck, and when it was searched, police said, they found a receipt from WTE Recycling of Greenfield made out to Mr. Bouthillier.

Police said they found that Mr. Valliere and Mr. Bouthillier had scrapped thousands of pounds of copper wiring with the recycling company. Records showed 9,000 pounds of wiring had been scrapped in Mr. Bouthillier's name alone.

Still camera images from Greenfield Savings Bank also showed both men cashing thousands of dollars worth of checks from WTE Recycling.

Police had found water bottles inside the factory, which they sent to the state police crime lab for testing. Only recently did the results come back.

The lab technicians found on one water bottle a match for Mr. Valliere's DNA. They also found that a footprint at the factory matched footwear from Mr. Valliere's home, police said.

The men were both indicted March 1 on one count of breaking and entering in the nighttime to commit a felony, larceny over $250, larceny from a building, vandalism, receiving stolen property valued over $250 and one count of misleading police.

They were arraigned on the charges on Thursday in Franklin Superior Court in Greenfield.

Because both men have extensive records, Mr. Bouthillier is being held in lieu of $50,000 cash bail and Mr. Valliere in lieu of $25,000 cash bail. They are both due back in court for pretrial hearings on June 6.